Red Lobster joins other chains in overhauling ad messages

Nation's Restaurant News,  August 13, 2007  by Gregg Cebrzynski

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

ORLANDO, FLA. -- Red Lobster has begun airing TV spots that focus on fresh fish, a noticeable departure from ads it had aired for many years that promoted price discounts for fried seafood.

The shift in emphasis is designed to reach consumers who didn't know that Red Lobster has a "pretty extensive menu" of fresh fish, said Salli Setta, executive vice president of marketing for the chain, which has 651 domestic units and is owned by casual-dining giant Darden Restaurants Inc., based here.

Brand research during the past few years showed many consumers were unaware of Red Lobster's fresh-fish menu, she said.

"It's amazing for a brand our age that people don't realize we have fresh fish," she said.

They might realize that now, if they've been paying attention to the TV spots for a New England lobster and crab bake and maple-glazed salmon and shrimp. The ads carry a new tagline, "Come see what's fresh today," which replaces the longstanding tagline, "For the seafood lover in you."

Although the new ads are significantly different from Red Lobster's previous campaigns, restaurants chains occasionally make radical moves in their commercials--"TiVo-proof" them, so to speak--to get the target audience to watch them.

Burger King's first TV spots with its King mascot were wildly different from anything the chain had done before. Wendy's recently broke surreal-looking TV spots featuring a man wearing a red wig with pigtails, nothing at all like the hundreds of ads that starred the chain's late founder, Dave Thomas.

Advertising for Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar is likely to depart from previous campaigns when the first ads from its new agency of record, McCann Erickson of New York, break in the fourth quarter.

The ad concept McCann presented to Applebee's during the agency review earlier this year was "iconic, ownable, extendable and breakthrough," said Eric Keshin, chief operating officer of McCann WorldGroup.

New approaches in advertising to boost sales are inevitable in a category as mature as the restaurant industry, said Raymond L. Coen, a marketing consultant based in Pacific Palisades, Calif.

"When campaigns are successful you don't change," he said. "When business isn't good it's a lot easier to change the advertising than to change the business."

Wendy's spots emphasize burgers made from fresh beef, which Coen said gives the chain a point of differentiation from competitors.

"Fresh meat versus frozen makes a difference," he said.

But he's not sold on Red Lobster's new tagline.

"I love 'For the seafood lover in you.' I thought it was terrific," Coen said.

Nevertheless, Red Lobster needs to refocus its marketing efforts because "the bar is continuously being raised by the entire industry in the areas of food and design and service," Setta said.

Red Lobster is "playing a little bit of catch up" in those areas, she said.

In late October, Red Lobster introduced an expanded fresh-fish program with daily menu selections of five to eight different fish species. The chain has begun to slowly open restaurants with a more contemporary look featuring warmer lighting and wood tones, and is in the process of upgrading its silverware and dishes, Setta said.

The new marketing campaign is designed to "have a conversation" with consumers about freshness instead of "talking at them" about it, she said.

"Freshness is the most important factor that people use to determine the quality of a seafood restaurant," Setta said. "They want more in the line of fresh fish and fresh recipes."

That preference led Red Lobster to focus its food promotions more on fresh fish than on the fried variety, though fried products remain a large part of the core menu, she said.

A promotion leading up to the Fourth of July focused on grilling and new menu ideas for the holiday. The "American Seafood Adventure" promotion, which broke afterward, focused on the New England lobster and crab bake and the maple-glazed salmon and shrimp from the Pacific Northwest to emphasize Red Lobster's regional fresh seafood dishes.

Both promotions were supported with TV campaigns created by The Richards Group of Dallas.

Red Lobster relies heavily on TV spots to reach consumers, but it has expanded its public relations programs and redesigned its website to reinforce the freshness message, Setta said.

In June the chain conducted a satellite media tour with Red Lobster chefs from a Coast Guard cutter in Boston Harbor. The event generated nearly a billion media impressions, said Amanda Monteleone of Atlanta-based GCI Group, Red Lobster's public relations agency.

The chain has changed the name of its customer-affinity program to the Fresh Catch Club from the Overboard Club and has been distributing fresh-fish recipe cards to diners. The cards contain cooking techniques and recipes that drive customers to the website, Setta said.